


i see beauty in you

by jjakbbam



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: M/M, all mentioned in this are labeled characters, donghyun is on an exchange program, i am a trash for youngdong, photographer-artist au, set in Japan, sihyun is literally just mentioned, youngmin works in a magazine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 18:24:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12114555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjakbbam/pseuds/jjakbbam
Summary: Donghyun sees entire galaxies; Youngmin sees springtime.orA one shot in which YoungDong just really like each other.





	i see beauty in you

**Author's Note:**

> this is a youngdong au set in osaka,  
> this is not beta read, you have been warned.

Today, Im Youngmin's day starts with a literal bang.

He's not so used to college students barging in his company's photography office and introducing himself as an intern, throwing open the door and accidentally hitting his forehead. It hurts, but maybe, the fact that this boy did not seem to see him at all hurts even more. Tsk, rude kid.

Then, Youngmin ended up nursing his forehead with his free hand, a cup of iced coffee in the other as he went to pick up the photo prints from the printing department a few floors below. On the sixth floor, his colleague Kenta came in the elevator, all bright smiles and his usual cheery ' _good morning_ 's, innocently asking him why he has a bump on his forehead.

After he got the photo prints from printing and gave them to the photography office, he got called to the boss's office and got told that he's being moved to the Osaka office.

 _Osaka_.

All the way from Fukuoka to Osaka. More than 600 kilometers away, and he's being moved completely to a new office in a different city so they said he'll be the head photographer there for fashion and nature photoshoots and whatever he wants to take photos of for the magazine.

So now, he's packing up all the things in his little apartment (which thankfully are not very much) so he might not have so much trouble relocating himself. Anyway, Kenta's with him. It's nice to have a friend come with him, especially one who's a local and obviously speaks much better Japanese than he does.

After packing Youngmin's things and helping Kenta pick out what to bring to Osaka, they go out for some drinks and Youngmin has never been more thankful that Takada Kenta is best (and only) friend in Japan.

 

☆

 

"Kim Donghan-"

"I'll see you back at the dorms, Donghyun, bye!"

Donghyun is disappointed in said friend Kim Donghan. They're paired up (like every single day of studying and drawing for this bachelor's degree) for a pair artwork sketch, but said friend ditched him to run off somewhere else. That purple headed traitor.

But then again, what more did he expect from Kim Donghan who pushed him face first into the sea at the beach, who tripped him in front of his crush, and who set his tiny little puppy (who doesn't actually look that scary, but his teeth are damn sharp) on him?

For the past three months, they were in the fast-paced city of Tokyo. This time, this quarter, they'll stay in the relatively calmer Osaka.

It's their second day of the fourth month of the transfer program in Japan and they're not exactly doing anything for school unlike what the brochure said that made all parents pay up loads just to send their kids away for the next six months. What they're actually just going to be doing is fill up sketchbooks with whatever and have something to pass to their professor after six months.

Technically speaking, they're all free to go mad, and Donghyun  _is_  going mad, so before he goes insane because he's lost and he can't speak Japanese, he sits himself down in front of a bench and starts drawing the nearest aesthetic looking building he sees.

Then when he looks up after sketching the basic structure of the building, two men walk out of the building conversing in slow Japanese, and he doesn't mean to eavesdrop but they sound like they're a teacher and student. One of the men, the one with bright orange hair looks around, eyes falling on him for a second before looking back at his friend but doing a double take, staring at him longer, and Donghyun drops his pen.

Donghyun doesn't break the eye contact. He makes sure to memorize that man's features, and he sketches the man's form within thirty minutes after the pair leaves and he's forced to look away.

He's very pretty, prettier than Kim Sihyun from the music department who Donghan tripped him in front of back in freshman year.

Maybe Donghan ditching him turned out to be something good, after all.

 

☆

 

Donghan drags him to the botanical garden near the dorms, chattering away about the delicious food he had for dinner the night before and how disappointing it was that Donghyun didn't come with him.

Normally, Donghyun would scowl, punch his shoulder and tell him that it's Donghan's fault anyway for leaving without him. Today, though, he's lost in thought, and he blames it on the tulips when Donghan snaps at him for not listening.

He should go back to that building, maybe he can see the orange haired man again. He does make quite an excellent muse, and Donghyun likes to compliment himself that he did a fairly accurate sketch despite it being a sketch from a memory that lasted about five seconds.

"Oi, Kim Donghyun! You're not listening to me anymore!"

"I told you, it's the tulips distracting me." Donghyun waves his hand and glancing at Donghan with an easy smile.

"You weren't even  _looking_  at the tulips!"

 

☆

 

How does Youngmin explain this?

He can't get a brunette out of his head (no, it's not Kenta) and he doesn't even know the guy's name. He just saw the guy sitting outside of their building with something that suspiciously looks like a drawing of their building on his lap and he stared at the guy for like, seven seconds, double take and all.

He probably looked like a creep, but the guy was also staring back at him, so he's not sure what to make of it anymore.

Since that evening, he's been walking slowly every time he leaves and enters the building to see if the guy would be sitting right there, but nope. Maybe he was just a random guy who was tired and sat on the nearest bench he found.

Yeah, that makes sense.

He's running late today for his ten o'clock shift because the train accidentally broke down (but that's not a problem because accidents happen and he got an excuse slip, everyone did!) and he got a bit too caught up in picking his coffee for the day at the nearby shop.

Now, he's running even more late because a certain brunette is sitting outside and staring blankly at his building with a sketchbook in his lap and a pencil nearly falling in between his fingers.

Youngmin approaches him slowly, carefully sitting down beside the boy and asking a question in quick Japanese, the way Kenta always speaks to him when he forgets that Youngmin is a foreigner.

_"Hey, what are you doing?"_

The boy just stares at him, his eyes wide in confusion and surprise, and raises his arms to form an x, trying to speak in broken English.  _"Me, I... I no Japan. I, uh, from Korea!"_

Youngmin blinks back, the English registering itself in his used-to-listening-to-Korean-and-Japanese-only-brain. Then he realizes the guy just said that he's from Korea and a relieved sigh escapes his lips as he switches to Korean, asking the same question.

"What are you doing, sitting outside a building in the cold?"

The guy freezes for a moment before breaking into a shy smile and awkward laughter as he raises his sketchbook and pencil with the same hand. "I, uh, I need to fill up some sketchbooks while I'm here."

He falls silent, then suddenly speaks up again, his voice louder.

"I saw you the other day and I know this makes me sound like a stalker or something, but I hope you won't mind that I drew you...?"

The guy then flips his sketchbook open and Youngmin's jaw drops when the guy flips to a page where his own face, Youngmin's own face, is drawn exceptionally well on the white paper.

He has to admit that it's a bit weird, but if the drawing's amazing like this one, then he feels more flattered than creeped out.

"You're weird." Youngmin declares, but then smiles awkwardly. "But you draw well." He holds out his hand for a handshake, which the guy takes hesitantly, and firmly shakes the guy's hand. "I'm Youngmin, by the way. Im Youngmin."

Now, it just settled in Youngmin's brain that calling the guy ' _the guy_ ' in his brain is quite weird, as well. Fortunately, before he has to ask, the guy has already stood up and bowed deeply and stated his name.

"I'm Kim Donghyun, it's nice to meet you."

Then, Youngmin excuses himself to go off to work because it's already nearly half past eight and Kenta himself might kill him if he walks in a half hour late with just the excuse that the train broke down. Donghyun chuckles, and waves. "I'll see you around?"

"You might see me later, if you'll stay." Youngmin shrugs with a small smile, fishing around in his bag for his work I.D.

"If I stay, which I might not, but we'll see." Donghyun smiles charmingly and bids him a ' _see you again_ ' as Youngmin waves at him before running into the building.

He enters their office twenty-seven minutes past eight and Kenta immediately storms up to him, speaking rapid fire Japanese that Youngmin takes a few moments to translate internally.

"Why are you so- Im Youngmin, you are so red, did you know that?"

 

☆

 

Donghyun, in fact, did stay outside that building for hours, drawing anything and everything his eyes see until his hand develops a cramp and he has to take a rest after letting his pencil fly over the clean paper for the past few hours.

Im Youngmin, when he gets out of work at five in the evening (after a few times leaving and entering the building to see Donghyun gone) within seven hours, looks very surprised to see him sitting there, in exactly the same spot where he was that morning.

He motions to the man with him (who Donghyun later finds out his name as Kenta) to go on ahead instead of waiting for him because he can find his way back to their apartment perfectly well. Youngmin gives him a wave as he walks over.

"I, well, I didn't really expect you to be here."

Donghyun laughs softly, flipping the pages of his book and showing Youngmin the number of drawings that certainly weren't there yesterday, "I was honestly starting to run out of things to draw."

"You didn't have to wait for me."

"It's fine." Donghyun then gets up, "I wanted to, I want to get to know you better even though we literally just properly met this morning. Would you mind walking with me today or are you busy? I get lost easily."

Youngmin just laughs as well, and pulls out a small film camera from the bag hanging from his belt. "My job is completely portable."

 

☆

 

To be honest, Youngmin doesn't really know Osaka very well yet aside from the famous tourist spots (because everyone knows those) and all the places he has really been to within the past few months are the busy streets, his workplace, his and Kenta's apartment and the train stations.

So, he's glad when he and Donghyun stumble upon a park he doesn't know the name of and Donghyun seems very happy to be there because of.... Because of his art, probably, and Youngmin's just relieved he hasn't messed up as Donghyun's guide for the day.

"Tell me about yourself." Youngmin says softly, sitting down with his larger camera hidden in his bag next to Donghyun and his sketchbook. "You're an artist, you're Korean, what else?"

"I'm twenty-three. I'm a college senior, and I'm here on an exchange program, but well, we're not really studying or anything, we're just free to go wherever we like." Donghyun states, all while sketching a tree. "Your turn."

Youngmin pauses for a moment and lowers his camera, "Twenty-six, from Busan. I moved to Fukuoka around two years ago because it was near home and I got relocated to Osaka a few weeks ago."

"And you work as a photographer?" Donghyun asks, finally raising his head and rubbing the back of his neck. Youngmin nods silently.

"Fashion and nature. Whatever I want really, the magazine's not so picky. We normally rely on photoshop and computer graphics, honestly."

"Shouldn't you not be saying that, then?" Donghyun sounds teasing and Youngmin glances over at him.

The younger boy is suppressing a smile, tucking his pencil behind his ear before he tears his gaze away, laughing and looking around at the surroundings. Youngmin just points at his sketchbook.

"You drew a very nice tree."

Donghyun agrees, "It is a very nice gingko tree."

The park isn't as crowded as the more famous parks are, and Youngmin is grateful for that. Less people showing up in his photos, less work trying to make the photo look good. He always liked clean, minimalistic photos.

Later, when the moon is fuller, Youngmin takes Donghyun to a small hole in the wall for food. Kenta taught him that most of the time, it's the hole in the wall stalls that have great food, and Youngmin has never let the chance to go inside one pass.

He learns that Donghyun is an absolute foodie, that he totally loves any kind of food except mushrooms. Donghyun will eat anything and everything except mushrooms, he said, he will not eat even the tiniest ones.

By the time he and Donghyun find their way back to the main train station, Donghyun goes ahead on his own, assuring Youngmin that he will be completely and knows his way from there on, and Youngmin is a bit sad to see him leave.

He likes to think he made such a good friend from someone who was a stranger to him literally twelve hours before.

 

☆

 

"Where were you the entire day? Who was that?"

Youngmin finds Kenta editing and layouting away on his laptop when he steps in the apartment. He takes out his camera from his bag and hands it over along with the cord so Kenta can decide what he can do with today's photos.

"A friend. His name is Donghyun, he's a student."

Kenta looks over at him in the kitchen from the sitting room floor, ceasing his typing and raising his eyebrows. "A student. Remember your last encounter with a student?"

Youngmin shakes his head, his hand flying up to rub at the bump from a few weeks ago as his other hand wrenches open the fridge and he takes out two bottles of yoghurt for the both of them.

"Shut up."

He walks back to sit down next to Kenta and hands him the yoghurt, poking the straw in for the both of them and leaning over Kenta's shoulder to see how far in the layouting he has reached.

Their magazine isn't one of the best-selling ones, it's just a simple monthly release that talks about anything and everything under the sun, anything that their writers can think of, really. With the stories Daniel and his friend Daehwi come out with on most days, it's not surprising that their magazine appeals to teenagers more than to adults.

Frankly, it's more like a thought compilation with some fashion tips courtesy of one of Daehwi's friends back in the States, Somi, who has taken it upon herself to expound on every new fashion trend she finds, and Youngmin who, naturally, takes care of the photoshoots with some modelling students Daehwi knows at his university.

Daehwi's always been the social butterfly, and Daniel has this crazy imagination that no one can understand how his brain works, but everyone loves him, nonetheless. He's a talented writer.

Kenta's layouting that night (and every night) is very neat and organized, with pastel colors and soft yellows and oranges, he has a Word document open in another tab and he's editing an article about stress that Daniel just gave him earlier that day.

And when Kenta is editing, he's just normally fixing all the grammatical errors because most of them in the team are foreigners, but they're all talented and they can't find anybody else talented enough to replace them so no one's ever fired.

Except Daehwi (or Daiki, as he prefers to be called in Japan, but Youngmin likes calling him by his Korean name) who is pretty much a genius with everything.

"It's ironic how Daniel gave me a ' _how to lose stress_ ' article when his grammar is what's giving me stress." Kenta wails, leaning against Youngmin's shoulder and reaching blindly for the yoghurt that he still hasn't touched.

Youngmin snorts, "It'll be stress-free once you finish checking it, you can do it. Only three more points left. Bless Daniel and his explanations, he's almost as detailed as Somi."

Kenta lets out a louder groan and Youngmin shoves the yoghurt straw in his mouth while reaching over to pat his back, chuckling lightly.

"There, there, Kenta."

When Kenta finishes the yoghurt, he places it on the floor next to Youngmin's socked foot then saves the document and layout and puts it aside as well. He snaps his fingers in front of Youngmin's face.

"Tell me about your friend. I need something to distract me for a bit, my head is spinning from staring at a laptop for hours now."

Youngmin looks at him warily, "What do you want me to talk to you about?"

Kenta shrugs, "Is he gay? Because I know  _you_ are, and he's a good looking face. Might as well, start with the basic information right?"

Youngmin blinks, opening and closing his mouth because he's contemplating on what to say. "For one thing, Kenta, I'm pretty sure talking about whether we're straight, gay, bi, pan or whatever is not basic information."

"Well, it should be." Kenta rolls his eyes. "How on earth are you supposed to know what you're getting into if you don't even know a person's sexual orientation? For all you know, you think he's straight but he's actually gay and madly in love with you-"

"We just met today-"

"There's something you call love in first sight, no? Or love at first word? Whatever. Look at me and Insoo, we kissed the first day we met-"

"You two met in a nightclub and you were both drunk-" Youngmin tries to cut in and explain the large difference between the both of their circumstances, but Kenta has his fingers in his ears and is continuously talking.

"So, the next time you meet that boy, you better come back and tell me whether he's straight, gay, pan, kinky or whatever because I am going to make you get laid-"

"Kenta!" Youngmin reaches for Kenta's laptop and quickly shoves it on his lap to shut him up; his ears are burning, and he's pretty sure Kenta will use that against him so he gets up and leaves before he can say anything else.

"You better not tell me next time that you still don't know whether that boy's gay or nah!" Kenta yells at his back as he speed walks into his own room, slamming the door loudly.

Well, that was certainly something. Was that conversation an effect of the laptop's brightness seeping into Kenta's brain and draining it of sanity?

 

☆

 

Donghyun is greeted with a pillow to the face and a " _you look weird smiling for no reason_ " from Donghan.

He tosses back it back to his friend and clambers on his bed, lying on his stomach with his chin on his pillow. He's still smiling.

"Why are you smiling? Did you meet a guy?"

When Donghyun doesn't answer and his grin stretches wider, Donghan jumps off his bed and squeezes himself on Donghyun's, slapping his shoulder and laughing crazily as well. It's not every day Kim Donghyun meets a guy that makes him look stupid in front of Donghan. He must know who this man is.

"Spill."

 

☆

 

The next time Donghyun catches Youngmin outside his workplace, it's a week later and it is half past six. Donghan is hanging on his arm and Youngmin comes out with the same person he was with the other day.

Youngmin breaks into a wide grin at the sight of him and Donghyun can feel Donghan's fingernails digging in his arm as Donghyun also sees Youngmin's friend elbow him. Youngmin side-eyes his friend, Kenta, if Donghyun remembers the name right, and walks over to them.

"Hi, Donghyun."

"Hey, Youngmin." Donghyun just smiles, he doesn't know what to do and to say because of Donghan squeezing his arm. "This, uh, this is Donghan, by the way. He's my friend."

It's only then Donghyun remembers Youngmin mentioning that Kenta cannot really speak Korean, and that's why Youngmin is introducing Donghan to Kenta, but then introduces himself to Donghan as well with a smile.

 _"And I'm Kenta."_  Youngmin's friend pushes forward with a bright smile and a wave, even though Donghyun can't understand anything.  _"Youngmin couldn't stop talking about you all week, you know."_

From the way Youngmin's ears turn bright red, Donghyun realizes that Kenta must have said something embarrassing, and Youngmin's translation for the both of them is simply, "He's Kenta, he's my colleague."

 _"Nice to meet you."_  Donghyun says in shaky English, trying to make up for it with a wide smile, and Kenta bows to him before muttering something to Youngmin, elbowing him in the side and waving goodbye while smiling.

Youngmin translates it as, "He says he'll be going ahead first, and that it was nice to meet you both."

There's something about Youngmin's expression that sort of makes Donghyun doubt the legibility of it, especially the fact that Youngmin was elbowed and it looked painful, but he can't say anything about it. He's not the one who knows Japanese anyway.

Donghan then asks Youngmin to ' _sit, sit_ ' and motions to the empty spot beside Donghyun, which he does take. Then Donghan goes off with all his random questions like ' _why are you in Japan?_ ', ' _how do you look so young when you're twenty-six?_ ', that kind, and embarrassing stories about Kim Donghyun that can never be left out and forgotten when it's Kim Donghan.

"Did you know, a few years ago, Donghyun adopted a kitten-" Donghan starts and Donghyun nearly slaps his friend to get him to shut up because it's a familiar story that story is definitely not one of his favorites because it is so embarrassing.

"It was the cutest little thing, all white and black boots, but I don't know exactly what happened because this idiot wouldn't tell me, but the cat ran away from him and followed Donghyun's crush, his name is Sihyun, by the way, and Sihyun totally fell in love with the kitten. Now, Donghyun absolutely adored the kitten, too, but when Sihyun asked him if it was a stray, the idiot said yes. When Sihyun asked him if he could adopt the cat, Donghyun said yes."

Kim Donghan stops for dramatic effect that isn't really necessary, tugging at Donghyun's ear, "This idiot right here gave up his kitten for his crush. Isn't he so whipped?"

Youngmin just laughs, a deep tinkling laugh that somehow reminds Donghyun of a wind chime, and nods. "He  _is_  whipped. But it's adorable, I didn't know Donghyun liked cats."

Donghyun wants to bury himself in a hole now and stay there forever because Youngmin is laughing because of him  _and_ called him (or the cat, or the story, or whatever, it's related to him anyway)  _adorable_.

Donghan shares some more stories, more bearable now that Donghyun realizes that Youngmin won't judge him because Donghan has already told the more judgeworthy stories and Youngmin didn't anything but laugh and call him adorable.

So yeah, Donghan's a pretty good friend, after all.

Sometimes.

Just sometimes.

"Hey, Youngmin? Is it fine if I ask you something a bit personal?" Donghan suddenly questions, his smile disgustingly sweet and his face innocent.

Youngmin, the ever kind friend, nods. "Fire away."

"Are you gay?"

Kim Donghyun falls in a coughing fit (maybe he overdid it because it causes Youngmin to offer him water) and he coughs even more when Donghan slaps his back because Youngmin just said that ' _yeah, he's sort of bi_.'

 

☆

 

Later that evening, Donghan left the both of them to return to the dorms just before they could grab some dinner. After they eat, it's around half past eight and they have time to kill, so they end up in another park, and Donghyun takes out his sketchbook, asking if he can make Youngmin his muse.

Youngmin just blinks at him and nods slowly, his cheeks turning a light shade of red and he's thankful it's dark in the park as Donghyun smiles widely and takes out his pencil from his bag, asking him to stay still so he can copy all the details of his form perfectly.

Because Donghyun has asked to draw him, it's not like Youngmin will agree to that without getting something in return, so while Donghyun is sketching, Youngmin takes candid photos of him with the promise that he'll make him look good. (Even though he doesn't really have to anymore because Donghyun as Donghyun himself is already perfectly gorgeous and breathtaking even without a filter.)

By the time the clock strikes ten, Im Youngmin has about a hundred different photos of Kim Donghyun and Kim Donghyun has one colored charcoal sketch of Im Youngmin that looks so true to life it's amazing.

When Youngmin reaches his apartment, Kenta is nowhere to be seen so he internaly decides that Kenta is probably inside his room doing work, so Youngmin quickly connects his camera to the photo printer and prints out the photo of Donghyun that he likes best from the hundred he took.

Before Donghyun goes inside his dorm, he stops by a computer shop and asks to scan the page of his drawing first using his broken English and sign language before running back to his dorm with a gleeful smile and Donghan to ask him again why he's smiling like an idiot.

 

☆

 

Youngmin would like to say that no, he's not falling headfirst at such a rapid speed for Kim Donghyun because for one, Donghyun's not staying forever, it's only a six month exchange program with three months in Osaka, and two, Youngmin is definitely not going to drop everything just to come with Donghyun back to Korea.

But yeah, he'll admit that he does have an attraction towards the younger. He's pretty and has a really nice smile. Draws well, too.

The fact that he spends almost every night out with Donghyun touring Osaka and ending up in places they never imagined of and dim lighting which seem to highlight how bright Donghyun's smile is and how pretty it is also doesn't seem to help that fact.

He's always been right there for him with his sketchbook, and Youngmin wishes he could do the same. If he just didn't have work to get to.

The one day he expects Donghyun to be waiting for him outside the building, though, he's not there. The one day he's completely free from work because the magazine has just been released in the morning to stores and they always have that day free, Donghyun's not there.

Now, Youngmin can't contact Donghyun because he doesn't have a Japanese phone so when Daehwi finally comes around an hour after Youngmin called, Youngmin is relieved because, well, at least he has someone to be with.

"Why are you even here?" Daehwi asks him, frowning, "It's a free day. Were you waiting for your boyfriend again?"

Youngmin shakes his head, "He's not my boyfriend."

"But you didn't deny you were waiting for him." Daehwi says cheerily then grabs his wrist and tugs him up, "Come on! Let's go have fun today!"

Now, Youngmin expected Daehwi to take him to Universal Studios, to a theme park, to shopping streets. Wherever. Just not a typical arcade where Daehwi always said he hated going in because he never really had much fun because of the people he was with.

Youngmin's always had fun at arcades, he likes the toy crane the most. It's annoying sometimes, but he finds it a lot of fun how others suffer to get even one and take like ten tries when he can get one in three because of the money he spent long ago just to be able to get one.

Daehwi has been trying to get a duck plushie for the past ten or so minutes, and Youngmin has just been watching him silently and trying not to tease Daehwi so much. He at least understands that not everyone tried as much as he did.

But that doesn't mean he can hold his giggles every single time the crane drops the toy before it can even reach the box, to glares from Daehwi.

"Shut up, Youngmin."

"You're just cute, Daehwi."

"I know, now shut up and let me concentrate."

Youngmin doesn't how long or how much money he and Daehwi spent at the arcade; all he really knows it's that it's fun and by the time any one of them starts to get hungry, it's already half past two.

They go out to get some ramen at a nearby place then Youngmin feels his instinct telling him to go back to the office. Daehwi just looks at him weirdly then bids him a ' _see you_ ' before flouncing off in the other direction as Youngmin heads back.

It's four in the afternoon when he reaches the office, and no, he was not expecting to see Kim Donghyun sitting out there all on his own.

Well, then. His instinct was right for once.

Youngmin pauses for a bit before walking up to Donghyun sitting on the bench and sits down beside him, trying to follow what Donghyun is staring at before realizing that he's staring at nothing at all and chuckling awkwardly, the sound floating with the wind.

"Hi, Donghyun."

"Hi, Youngmin."

"What are you doing here?"

"I missed you."

The words flow out of Donghyun's mouth so easily that Youngmin immediately freezes, and it takes a while for the younger boy to notice that he probably said something he shouldn't have as he turns to Youngmin, eyes wide.

"I did not just say that. You heard nothing."

 

☆

 

"You're going home in two weeks, right?"

Donghyun thinks Youngmin sounds a little sad when he asks this, but maybe it's just his brain playing tricks on him so he deliberately ignores the voice in his head, and nods. "Yeah. Two weeks left in Osaka. I'll be gone by the end of the month."

Youngmin falls silent for a bit before suddenly laughing, and it sounds awkward somehow. As if it's forced.

"And you still don't know Japanese?"

"I know how to order food and buy things already. Don't me." Donghyun pushes the older man while laughing and shaking his head, "Just because you live here already doesn't mean you can tease me-"

"I'll really miss you, you know?" Youngmin suddenly blurts out, lowering his head while putting his hands inside his pockets and fiddling with the small film camera in the right pocket. Donghyun lowers his head as well, his cheeks warm.

" _I miss you every day, even on the days I see you_." Donghyun would like to say this, and reason that that's why his sketchbooks are full of drawings of Im Youngmin and the little things he does, and the fact that maybe, he fell for Youngmin from the first moment. As cheesy as it sounds, maybe, it's really real.

Donghyun also wants to say, _"I'm in love with all of you."_  but he thinks that nothing is going to change, because what can possibly change within two weeks, right?

So he says neither of the two and just keeps his silence, hands absentmindedly folding an unfolding the corner of a fresh blank paper of the sketchbook he's holding.

 

☆

 

Eleven days. That's not so short. 

By the eleventh day before Donghyun leaves, Youngmin took him to his and Kenta's apartment. (Kenta promised to stay away for the night until Youngmin calls him back as long as Youngmin promises that something must happen between the both of them. He's not planning to do anything, but he does.)

He shows Donghyun the photos, the now hundreds of photos of Kim Donghyun and the occasional photo with both of them on his own laptop, scrolling and looking at every single one of them with he younger boy sitting beside him and occasionally hitting him because he says he looks ' _totally ugly_ ' there.

Youngmin disagrees. He doesn't think Donghyun can ever look ugly.

When it's half past eight, Donghyun is curled up on the floor with a pillow on his lap and a sketchbook while Youngmin is sorting through all his photos, asking Donghyun every once or twice if he thinks the photos are looking all right for the magazine even if Donghyun doesn't really know much about it.

Youngmin gets up from his seat, returning with two boxes of milk, handing one to the younger while he's sketching. Youngmin can see Donghyun sketching a pair of eyes, but instead of the typical eyes, they're entire galaxies.

Donghyun always told Youngmin he had stars in his eyes; Youngmin just laughed it away every single time, saying that he could say the same for Donghyun's smile.

"That's pretty." Youngmin comments, pointing at Donghyun's current work, as he sits on the floor and pulls his laptop to his lap beside Donghyun, who just takes the milk box he's offering and gives a soft smile.

"I told you, it's you."

 

☆

 

Eleven days turns to six, and Donghyun knows they're running out of time.

Donghan's already packing half of everything he has into a new piece of luggage because he bought too much things for himself and his family, while Donghyun's flipping through every single one of his three sketchbooks filled with drawings of Im Youngmin.

"Donghyun-ah, you've been looking at those for an hour already." Donghan sighs, straightening up and bouncing on Donghyun's bed, looking over his shoulder. "We both know you're tragically in love with Youngmin, so what exactly do you want to do about it?"

Donghyun takes one sketchbook, the first one he used in Osaka and the one with his very first sketch of Youngmin, casually flipping through all the pages as if he has all the time in the world to look at them, which he doesn't. 

He still has to pack.

He might not have bought as much things for himself as Donghan did, but he has a lot for his friends and family. The sketchbooks and the photo prints Youngmin gave him a few days ago are all he has for himself, and he doesn't think he needs much more.

"Can I just do nothing about it and wallow in my own despair because why, oh, why did I have this fortunate misfortune to fall for someone on an exchange program?" Donghyun sighs.

Donghan wrinkles his nose, "When have you ever become so dramatic?"

"The clock's going tick tock, tick tock, Donghan. He's here to stay, I'm not."

 

☆

 

Four days left.

Daehwi and Kenta are asking him how Donghyun is doing.

Youngmin hasn't seen him in a while, Donghyun is probably too busy packing up to leave. He doesn't know what to answer.

 

☆

 

Three days.

Donghyun runs out to the nearest computer shop with all his sketchbooks, asking the shop if they can scan every single page that has a sketch of Youngmin on photo paper.

It costs him a lot, but they're done scanning and printing out by half past four and with a thick folder in his arms, Donghyun runs to where Youngmin's office is.

By a quarter past five, he's sitting outside and leafing through the sheets, thinking that he can always scan them again for himself. He'd just like Youngmin to have them as a geture of thanks for letting Donghyun draw him for all this time.

Donghyun knows the folder is thick and not all of his drawings are of the best quality. Some of the drawings are small and rushed, cartoon Youngmins doing whatever he's doing.

When Youngmin exits the building, his friend Kenta immediately leaves to go ahead after a wave at him, and Youngmin greets him with a cheerful wave, accepts his gift with a warm smile and a soft ' _you didn't have to, thank you, Donghyun_ ', and gives him an even warmer hug.

For the rest of the night, Youngmin asks him how his packing is going, if all his things managed to fit in his luggage and Donghyun averts the subject to Donghan and his three carriers because Donghyun hasn't even started packing properly because he doesn't want to leave Osaka.

He doesn't want to leave all these beautiful memories behind.

"What will you miss most about Osaka? I mean, about Japan as a whole?" Youngmin questions him as they exit a convenience store with a packet of ice cream chocolates in their hands.

Donghyun pretends to think a lot, to think deeply, even if he already knows that he wants to say that he'll miss Youngmin most.

But he doesn't say that. Donghyun says he'll miss the scenery and the food, and Youngmin nods in agreement as he pops a chocolate in his mouth. "I would miss that, too."

"Don't you miss Busan sometimes, Youngmin?"

"Of course I do, but my work is here, and it's just an hour away by plane. It's not so hard to come home, I just need to find a holiday long enough."

They talk about more things under the shine of silvery moonlight, and Donghyun can't help but think that maybe this is the last night he'll spend with Youngmin in Osaka.

Or in his entire lifetime, even.

What are the chances that even if Donghyun comes back to Osaka, or Youngmin comes back to Korea, they'll find each other again? They don't even have each other's contact details or anything.

 

☆

 

One day.

Donghyun is leaving the night after. He's leaving in approximately thirty-three hours, and no, Youngmin has not prepared himself for that moment yet.

He has not prepared to let go.

Not when Kim Donghyun is waiting for him right outside his office at eight in the morning with such a gorgeous smile that it literally pains Youngmin to see him and smile and wave the way he always does. How can Donghyun still smile at him so prettily?

Youngmin walks over to him, though, trying to keep his smiles natural and bright as ever as he sends a quick text to Kenta if Donghyun can come in their office, even if it's just for one day. Kenta replies with a quick ' _anything for your boyfriend_ ' and Youngmin ignores the term he used as he holds out his hand for Donghyun and pulls him inside the office, to Donghyun protesting that he doesn't work there.

"You have me, you don't need anyone else."

 

☆

 

Daniel and Daehwi and Sana and Mina and Jisung are all happy smiles and are full of ' _come in, Youngmin's boyfriend/friend/whoever you are_ ' (the last one courtesy of Daniel because he's very very confused about the things Daehwi tells him about Youngmin and Donghyun).

Sana is fawning over him for some reason, complimenting Donghyun on his eyes and how nice his clothes are and all those things, while Daehwi is staring intently at Donghyun and it's obviously starting to weird him out, even though he tries to make it not obvious.

Throughout all this, Youngmin is sitting at his corner, peeking at Donghyun every few seconds over the top of his laptop and hiding smiles and discreetly dabbing at his eyes.

When Mina asks him in her soft voice if he's okay, Youngmin immediately steals a glance at Donghyun and just nods, "Yeah, I'm fine."

He has to pretend that Daehwi isn't giving him knowing looks at the moment because  _god_ , he'll miss Donghyun a lot.

 

☆

 

Donghyun doesn't want to leave.

He's sitting on his bed, fully dressed and all ready to go to the airport; they're just waiting for their professor to call them out.

In a few hours, he'll back home. He's not sure what exactly he feels about that.

The day before, in the evening, Youngmin gave him more photo prints in an envelope and even gave him a flash drive with the soft copy of every single one over a bowl of ramen; Donghyun nearly cried into his noodles.

Then, at the train station, Youngmin gave him what probably feels like the longest and warmest hug (from a person outside family) of his life. He only pulled away when the last train of that line was arriving, and Donghyun got all choked up. He wanted to say so much, but he couldn't; he didn't know how to express himself in coherent words.

He just nodded and waved as Youngmin gave him a soft smile and told him to keep safe.

And that he'll miss him.

Youngmin leaned over to give him another quick hug before waving him away and telling him to ' _go, go quickly, you don't want to miss your train'_

Now, this could be Donghyun's delusional brain playing tricks on him again but he's not entirely sure if Youngmin's hand rested on his shoulder seemingly moments too long, if he kept blinking too fast and wetting his lips, and if he had just seen Youngmin turn around, sit down on a bench and lower his head when he thought Donghyun couldn't see him anymore.

Sad doesn't even begin to explain how he feels right now.

 

☆

 

Daniel told him he's been out of it and that all of his photos these days seem to be mainly dimly lit parks and crowded streets at night, and that he seems to especially like pastel stripes recently.

Sana also tells him that he's gotten quieter, but Mina contradicts it and says that Youngmin's always been quiet.

Youngmin, the subject of all converations these days, just stays silent and continues working on his laptop, renaming every single photo file with names such as ' _park1.jpg_ ' and then renaming then as simply ' _1.jpg_ '.

He misses Donghyun quite a bit; he has Donghyun's file of sketches kept safely inside his drawer. He looks at them mainly when he's alone, he's even contemplating on making a collage out of them and sticking it on his wall.

 

☆

 

It's only now that Donghyun wishes he really has Youngmin's contact details.

His professor tells him that his sketches are exceptional and that there are enough of them to give him top grades for the next few weeks, seeing as he has three sketchbooks filled while his other classmates only have one to two.

They all ask him, " _Who is that guy?"_  and " _Where did you meet him_?" and the never ending, " _Is he your boyfriend_?" to which Donghyun respectively answers that he's just a friend that he met while walking around the city.

 _Just a friend_. It's sad. Painful, even. He really does like Youngmin, and it only fully sunk in right when he was leaving.

Sometimes, he wonders if Youngmin thinks of Donghyun as much as Donghyun thinks of Youngmin.

He can't help but wonder if Youngmin misses him, too.

 

☆

 

Everything reminds him of Donghyun.

From the shining sun to fluffy clouds to deserted parks and cherry blossoms to dark streets and bright lights, everything, and he means  _everything_ , reminds him of Donghyun.

He can't even eat noodles anymore without thinking of Donghyun.

God, Youngmin is so in love.

 

☆

 

From the sun to the sky to the stars to comets, they're all there, in two seemingly endless eyes.

Donghyun thinks he'll be fine. Even if his newer sketches are of the slowly fading memories he has of them together, he'll never forget the stars and moon that always shine in Youngmin's eyes, his drawings are rooted from there.

His professor says that he seems to have found his concept, his style, and suggests that he use that concept for their thesis gallery.

The galaxy, that's not so bad. It's definitely better than the nature concept he was trying to go for before.

 

☆

 

Youngmin's life shifts back to normal within a few months; he stops thinking about Donghyun so often and starts to regard him as something lost and will never come back.

He moves on.

Or at least, he tries to.

It's not so easy when he has a full file of memories inside a folder on his laptop and physical sketches inside his drawer. Daehwi suggests throwing them away, but Youngmin shakes his head.

He's never going to do that, even if he starts thinking of Donghyun as someone in his past.

 

☆

 

Donghyun's thesis gallery is composed of the stars, Im Youngmin's eyes and everything in between.

He created it with metallic glitter, black paper, pastel markers, chalk and a whole lot of tears and memories.

He doesn't know what to name his gallery, he's not a creative person to ask for titles, so he calls it ' _Young_ '. Terrible, yes? He can't exactly explain or summarize his entire gallery in a simple short title.

Donghyun nearly breaks down in tears when everyone's complimenting and telling him that it's gorgeous, otherworldly, beautiful and every other positive adjective. His ex-crush Kim Sihyun is there as well, and he tells Donghyun that his work is absolutely gorgeous, with a blinding smile, and for the first time ever, Donghyun doesn't stutter when he talks to Sihyun. Even Donghan tells him he's proud of him, and that's a rare feat.

Donghyun wonders if Youngmin would have been proud of him, as well.

 

☆

 

It's a late autumn evening and Youngmin's working overtime when Kim Sohye, a relatively newer member of their team, runs into the office after returning from her trip to Seoul. She's screaming something Youngmin is blocking out and moments later, half of the office people are screaming as well.

"Im Youngmin!" Daehwi is screaming at him, slamming his hands down on Youngmin's desk and shoving a phone in his face; Youngmin slaps the hand away, letting out a sigh.

"What?"

"Your boyfriend's gallery post is getting fame online. He mentioned you in the one sentence caption."

At that, Youngmin arches his eyebrows and Daehwi hands over the phone, where Instagram is open on the browser and it shows a collage, with ten different photos in the post, totaling forty different photos.

He scrolls through the posts slowly, taking note of the galaxy-themed sketches, a drawing style that looks like suspiciously like the ones he still has in his drawer, and eyes that look scarily like his own. The sketches are beautiful, and he understands why it's becoming famous.

Then he looks at the caption, where it's written, very simple and very straight forward, written in both English and Korean.

 **kdh917** :  _그_   _한_   _임영민에게_ _:_ _고맙고_   _미안하고_   _보고싶고_   _사랑한다_ _._   _to a certain im youngmin, thank you, i'm sorry, i miss you, i love you. this is all dedicated to you._

Youngmin calmly (on the outside) sets down the face and returns to his laptop, trying hard to keep his lips and eyes from twitching too obviously, and Daehwi snatches back the phone, reading out loud the caption and Daehwi's reading of Donghyun's message keeps repeating in Youngmin's head.

_Thank you._

_I'm sorry._

_I miss you._

_I love you._

_I miss you._

_I love you._

_I love you._

_I love you._

Youngmin abruptly stands up, forgetting about what he was doing earlier and walks out of the office to yells from Daehwi, Jisung and Daniel. He noticed how Sana and Mina were pointedly focusing on their work, but he also noticed the way their lips were twitching as if they wanted to say something.

He walks out to a chilly breeze, and he tugs closed his long coat, then he exhales a deep sigh. He only notices the tears dripping down his cheeks when he raises a hand because he thought a raindrop fell on him, but it was just his own salty tears.

And he can't ignore the fact his heart is racing as well, and he's breathing hard, and when he returns inside the office after a few breaths of fresh air, the first thing he does is take out the folder filled with sketches of him by Kim Donghyun, and click on the file with all the photos.

Nope, he has definitely  _not_  moved on.

 

☆

 

Donghyun doesn't know if he'll ever see Youngmin again, but when he has the most recent issue of Youngmin's company's magazine (yes, he still buys it every month even if he doesn't understand it. It just makes him feel like there's a part of Youngmin in there) shipped to his apartment, he's surprised to see that instead of the typical landscape photo and matching article, there's a film photo of him and some photos of his Instagram post.

An entire feature about him. In Japanese.

In a language he doesn't understand.

But it's a feature about  _him_. He has to know who wrote it and why, and what exactly is written. So he scans the entire article first, then at the very bottom of the page, in tiny light gray colored print that nobody else without sharp eyes would notice, there's a short message, and his heart quite literally stops for a second.

It's the only thing in the entire magazine that's written in Korean and he thinks that, somehow, Youngmin forced Kenta or whoever is editing the magazine at the moment to squeeze it in. It's actually only two Korean characters anyway. ' _Me too_ '

That leaves Donghyun on his own to decipher what exactly Youngmin means by that, but he feels that the other saw his post, and maybe this is the reply to his blunt caption.

 

☆

 

Once more, Im Youngmin's day starts with a bang.

He woke up late, missed his train and ran inside the office to an earful of angry Japanese with Daehwi sniggering the background. He crashed into Daniel, who was giggling on the phone, while entering the elevator and he's pretty sure there's a bump growing in the middle of his forehead.

He's getting a sense of deja vu, and he does not know what to feel about it. The last time he got hit in the forehead, he got relocated to Osaka. Does this mean he's moving back to Fukuoka?

It's when he gets back from his lunch break that he hears Sohye calling for him from inside the office and knocking on glass doors. Her voice is  _so_  loud and she sounds so excited for whatever reason. Really, if Youngmin's just being called to go to the boss, then why on earth is she sounding so happy?

He passes by the vending machine to get himself an iced chocolate first before going to find Sohye and seeing whatever it is she's calling him for. He was already preparing himself to go see the boss in like a half hour; he was not expecting to see an artist with a smile as bright as the sun standing there beside her.

_Well, damn, how did he even get here?_

"Hi, Youngmin." The artist waves sheepishly, almost shyly, and Youngmin just does not know what to say.

Sohye walks right up to him, smiling widely and waving her hands in his face, "Youngmin! I texted Kenta about your friend arriving and he said you're free to take the rest of the day off to spend time with him! He says you can leave for the rest of the week, too, if needed!"

 

☆

 

  
They're back in places they used to go to before with Youngmin's camera and Donghyun's sketchbook. Just like before.

He's totally feeling the deja vu, but now, they're talking about things deeper than what they used to talk of. For example, Donghyun's thesis gallery, the post that went viral, and of course, the caption itself. Then the ' _me too_ ' written below the feature article, and the feature and who wrote it.

Donghyun actually translated the article already then booked the earliest compatible with his schedule flight to Osaka within the month because Donghan insists on weekly get togethers and catch ups. The feature was full of praises and constructive criticisms, and somehow, he heard Youngmin's voice while reading the translation, especially during the line ' _How can a person's eyes be so full of stars? The eyes are the window to the soul, no person has entire galaxies in one dirty soul_.

He asks about it, about that exact line, and Youngmin smiles slightly, shrugging. "We're not perfect, no person is full of stars and galaxies."

"But you are, I can see galaxies in you." Donghyun says bluntly, and Youngmin lowers his head, peeking into his camera.

"And I see the sun and flowers in your smile, and everything makes me think of nothing else but you." Youngmin says quietly, "It's the same thing happening when you and another person like each other."

"I do like you. I think I made that clear."

Youngmin peeks at him, "And I put my statement in the magazine.

Donghyun's eyebrows furrow, "You only wrote ' _me too_ ', how am I supposed to know which statement you answered? For all I know, it could be my apology, and you're saying sorry as well because you're rejecting me-"

"I'm in love with you. I think the fact that I see springtime in you is proof of that." Youngmin pauses, turning off his camera and slowly placing it back in his bag; Donghyun doesn't say a single word. "I'm in love with you." He repeats. "Do you really just want to hear that? You're overthinking again."

By now, Donghyun's fingers are shaking and he silently closes his sketchbook. He doesn't know how to reply, he feels like he lost any sense of speech and reaction in him.

Long moments later, he manages to speak and his voice is trembling. "Thank you for seeing springtime in me."

Youngmin is silent as well, and he takes a deep breath before breaking into a small smile and reaching for Donghyun's hand to squeeze it gently.

"And thank you for seeing the stars in me, and for coming over. I missed you."

 

**Author's Note:**

> random fun fact! tulips generally mean perfect love (and no, i did not know that before i wrote this, i literally looked it up just now aND OH, THEY MEAN PERFECT LOVE WOW)


End file.
